The Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act (MVRMA) states that a project that might be a cause of public concern should be referred for an environmental assessment.

We insist that the Government of the Northwest Territories exert their authority under the MVRMA to refer any further horizontal hydraulic fracturing applications in the NWT to a full environmental assessment that includes public hearings.

Background information

BACKGROUND:

We are the public and we are concerned about horizontal hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

The reasons for our concern include:
1. Horizontal hydraulic fracturing (Fracking) is new to the NWT and is clearly controversial – it is banned or under moratorium in many places in the world.
2. Fracking permanently contaminates very large volumes of fresh water. This does not match the NWT Water Stewardship Strategy.
3. In other places, fracking brought lots of outside workers, alcohol, illegal drugs and crime with it. We don’t have a plan to deal with an increase in these social issues.
4. Fracking will require transporting toxic fracking chemicals and polluted waste water through our communities, along our highways and on the Mackenzie River. NWT workers will also be exposed to these hazardous substances.
5. Sahtú elders tell us that water flows through the deep geology of the Sahtú and that different areas are connected in ways that science has not documented. We also know that underground networks of fractured rock and wells will eventually leak.
6. We have to look at the bigger picture. Our land, water, wildlife, cultures, communities and economies are already under stress and will suffer from the additional stress of fracking and associated development.
7. Extracting oil and gas increases greenhouse gas emissions and makes global climate change happen faster. Greenhouse gas emissions come both directly from the fracking operation and from burning the oil and gas that is extracted.
8. The decision to allow fracking in the NWT without an environmental assessment has created tension in the Sahtu and across the NWT.